Healing Heritage
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Healing Heritage: New Approaches to Commemorating Canada’s Indian Residential School System by Trina Cooper-Bolam A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Canadian Studies Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario © 2014, Trina Cooper-Bolam Abstract In anticipation of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, this thesis examines Canada’s federal place-based heritage infrastructure and critiques the policy and practice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC) relative to its engagements with the history of Indian residential schools (IRS) and difficult heritage in general. Interpreting IRS Survivor-led commemoration and heritage practices as healing and decolonizing, and drawing on art-as-resistance and social activism-oriented models of commemoration and counter-commemoration, I examine alternative approaches to collective remembering and forgetting within the context of genocide, atrocity, and historic trauma. I argue for a needed shift from dominant heritage paradigms that bind heritage with conservation, to emergent approaches that recognize heritage as a healing practice. In conclusion, I present a series of recommendations to move toward bridging the gap between state practices of heritage, and the needs of Survivors and other IRS stakeholders. ii Acknowledgements In gratitude for his guidance, I would first like to thank my supervisor Peter Hodgins. I would also like to acknowledge and thank my second reader, Susan Ross, and my external reviewer, Glen Lowry. I owe a debt of gratitude to the School of Canadian Studies at Carleton, and in particular the infinitely patient and helpful Lori Dearman. Finally, I wish to thank Graham Iddon and Clara Bolam for their ongoing support, and for putting up with my mess these past years. iii Table of Contents Abstract ................................ ...................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ................................ ............................................................................... iii Table of Contents ................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ................................ .......................................................................................... vi List of Appendices ................................ ................................................................................. vii 1 Chapter: Introduction ................................ ..................................................................... 1 1.1 Methodological Considerations ................................ ............................................................ 8 2 Chapter: Remembering IRS: Trauma, Witnessing, Healing .............................. 14 2.1 Context ................................ ................................................................................................ 14 2.2 Witnessing ................................ ........................................................................................... 21 2.3 Understanding IRS Trauma ................................................................................................. 24 2.4 Healing ................................ ................................................................................................ 28 2.5 Conclusion ................................ ........................................................................................... 32 3 Chapter: Forgetting IRS: Containment and Erasure ................................ ............ 34 3.1 Evolving Theorizations of Heritage ..................................................................................... 37 3.2 Canada’s Place-‐based Federal Commemorative Landscape ................................ ............... 47 3.3 Observations on the HSMBC System Plan (2000) and Guidelines (2008) ........................... 51 3.4 Interactions with HSMBC on IRS ................................ ......................................................... 61 3.5 Difficult Knowledge Elsewhere Explored ............................................................................ 65 3.6 Conclusion ................................ ........................................................................................... 70 iv 4 Chapter: Actualizing the Will to Remember ................................ .......................... 73 4.1 The State and Monumentalization of Difficult Heritage ................................ ..................... 73 4.2 Public Heritage Practice and Resistance ................................ ............................................. 79 4.3 Considerations of Place................................ ....................................................................... 85 4.4 Heritage Practices of IRS Survivors, their Families, and Communities................................ 93 4.5 Healing ................................ .............................................................................................. 118 4.6 Conclusion ................................ ......................................................................................... 124 5 Chapter: Conclusion ................................ .................................................................... 126 5.1 Considerations ................................ .................................................................................. 127 5.2 Recommendations ................................ ............................................................................ 128 5.3 Final Remarks ................................ .................................................................................... 133 Appendices ................................ ........................................................................................... 136 Appendix A ................................ .................................................................................................. 136 Appendix B ................................ .................................................................................................. 138 Appendix C ................................ .................................................................................................. 140 Appendix -‐ D Attached as separate document ................................ ........................................... 141 Appendix – E Attached as a separate document ................................ ........................................ 141 Appendix F ................................ .................................................................................................. 141 WORKS CITED ................................ ...................................................................................... 143 v List of Figures Figure 1: The Canadian Peacekeeping Monument. Photo Credit: Canada's Capital/Foter/ CC BY-NC-ND ................................................................................................................... 3 Figure 2: Melody at the Champlain Monument - Seize the Day. Photo, Jeff Thomas. ...... 5 Figure 3: The Aschrott-Brunnen Monument, Horst Hoheisel, 1987. ............................... 77 Figure 4: Sir John A. MacDonald defaced in Kingston. Photo attributed to Jeffrey Lowes. ........................................................................................................................................... 80 Figure 5: Leah Decter with guests stitching official denial: trade value (in progress), 2010 and ongoing. ............................................................................................................. 84 Figure 6: The Former St. Eugene Indian Residential School adaptively reused as a golf resort and casino. .............................................................................................................. 96 Figure 7: A number of AFN/AHF commemorative monuments mid-fabrication. Photo courtesy Tania Budgell. .................................................................................................. 110 vi List of Appendices Appendix A - IRSSA Commemoration Program Evaluation Grid Appendix B - IRSSA Commemoration Program Evaluation Results Appendix C - A Framework for Understanding Trauma and Healing Related to Residential School Abuse Appendix D - Healing and Decolonizing Comparative Chart Appendix E - TRC Commemoration Initiative Call for Proposals Guide Appendix F - AANDC IRSSA Commemoration Program Project Descriptions Appendix G - HSMBC Flowchart of the Designation Process vii 1 Chapter: Introduction In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada will “submit to the Parties of the [Indian Residential Schools Settlement] Agreement a report including recommendations to the Government of Canada concerning the Indian residential school (IRS) system and experience including: … the effect and consequences of IRS… and the ongoing legacy of the residential schools” ("Schedule ‘N’"). Although it will be beyond the scope of the report to establish that the IRS System meets the technical and legal criteria for genocide, as defined in the UN Convention, Article 2, Sections C and E, Chief Justice Murray Sinclair, Chair of the TRC, has been clear in characterizing it as such in national media ("Residential schools called